No, but they show rigor. Focus on excelling in courses available to you.

Yes, most colleges and universities absolutely care about demonstrated interest. There are multiple ways to demonstrate interest: attend virtual tours (virtual or in-person), email admissions reps, or engage on social media to show enthusiasm. If you are deferred or waitlisted, consider sending a Letter of Continued Interest.

Yes and no. You can reuse parts of essays or follow similar outlines, but you should always tailor them to each school’s prompts and values. Never mention the wrong college in an essay!

- ED: Binding commitment if accepted (apply to 1 school). - EA: Non-binding early application (multiple schools). - RD: Standard deadline (no restrictions).

Start exploring interests and building strong academic habits early (even in 9th grade), but formal application prep (essays, resumes, etc.) begins in junior year.

For most students, we recommend applying to approximately 10 colleges. This list should strike a balance between reach, target, and safety schools (roughly 3-4 of each). Highly accomplished students might consider applying to a higher proportion of reach schools, but every student should balance out their list with colleges of [...]

Every high school has a different way of calculating grades, which makes it difficult to use GPA as a metric for college admissions. Some colleges provide aggregate GPA data for recently admitted students, but this is nowhere near as widely available as test score data. Some colleges standardize GPA themselves [...]

Many colleges switched to a test-optional policy with the onset of COVID-19. However, some colleges (including MIT) have switched back to a test-required policy, so we’d recommend checking the requirements of each university on your college list. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a handful of colleges have committed [...]

Generally speaking, colleges do not make value judgments about the extracurricular activities a student chooses to pursue. They do, however, value quality over quantity; they look for students who commit to particular activities for the long-term and rise to leadership roles within them. Ideally, your student’s extracurriculars should reflect their [...]

College admissions officers assess applications holistically, meaning they evaluate the “whole” student. No factor (including grades, test scores, or extracurriculars) is considered in a vacuum; rather, these pieces are all assessed in the context of each student’s unique background. With that being said, a student’s academic record (including their grades [...]